Can fill stomach with Re. 1: Farooq

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Last Updated: Fri, Jul 26, 2013 07:04 hrs

New Delhi: After Congress leader Raj Babbar's Rs. 12 meal claim, Union New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah has started another controversy by saying that a person can have a full meal for Re. 1 if he desires.

"If you want, you can fill your stomach in Re. 1 or Rs. 100, depending on what you want to eat," Abdullah told reporters.

"We are working to change the life of the poor so they can eat well be healthy and India can progress," he said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rasheed Masood said he spends less than Rs. 5 on his meals.

"In Delhi you can get a whole meal for Rs. 5, but I don't know about Mumbai. I myself spend less than Rs 5 on my meals," Masood told media.

Earlier, Congress leader and yesteryear actor Raj Babbar triggered a controversy by saying that people can have full meal at Rs 12 in Mumbai even today.

Speaking to media on Wednesday, Babbar said: "Even today in Mumbai city, I can have a full meal at Rs 12."

He said people can have rice, dal, daal saambhar with mixed vegetables in the Rs. 12 meal.

He made the remark a day after the Planning Commission on Tuesday said that number of people living below the poverty line has declined in both urban and rural areas of the country.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday said India's poverty ratio has declined to 21.9 percent in 2011-12 from 37.2 percent in 2004-2005.

"The percentage of persons below the Poverty Line in 2011-12 has been estimated as 25.7% in rural areas, 13.7% in urban areas and 21.9% for the country as a whole," the Planning Commission said.

"The respective ratios for the rural and urban areas were 41.8% and 25.7% and 37.2% for the country as a whole in 2004-05. It was 50.1% in rural areas, 31.8% in urban areas and 45.3% for the country as a whole in 1993-94.

"In 2011-12, India had 270 million persons below the Tendulkar Poverty Line as compared to 407 million in 2004-05, that is a reduction of 137 million persons over the seven year period," the Planning Commission said.

"The decline in poverty flows from the increase in real per capita consumption," it said.